City to Begin Work on $1.7 Million Streetlight Capital Improvement Program

August 05, 2014

NEW ORLEANS, LA – TODAY at 10:00 a.m., Lt. Col. Mark Jernigan, Director of the City of New Orleans Department of Public Works, will be available to discuss the City’s $1.7 million Streetlight Capital Improvement Program to perform permanent streetlight system upgrades and replacements including repairs to streetlights along I-10 in New Orleans East.

These improvements include: upgrading or replacement of system infrastructure including conduits, upgrading or upsizing feed points, group relays, fixtures, and other capital improvements; rehabilitation of streetlight pole components including painting of hardware components, and/or replacement/upgrade of pole components such as support arms, poles, bases or foundations; re-setting of knocked down streetlights; and installation of new streetlight poles.

The $1.7 million capital funding for streetlight improvements came from excess capital funds from debt service collected for the Capital and Infrastructure Trust Fund. New Orleans City Council approved the appropriation of this funding in June 2014. Repairs to the streetlights along I-10 in New Orleans East began last week and are anticipated to be completed this fall. The City is utilizing existing contracts with Royal Engineers & Consultants, LLC and All Star Electric, Inc. to provide program management and maintenance for this program.

In July 2014, the City began $14.7 million in improvements to the City’s streetlight system through the Energy Smart Streetlight Conversion Program to convert approximately 20,000 streetlights to energy-efficient LED streetlights. LED streetlights have a 7-10 year life span (compared to 2-3 years for conventional), use 30-50% less energy, and provide better lighting. To date, over 4,000 streetlights have been converted to LEDs as part of this program.

Outages are identified from reports from residents to the NOLA 311 system. Residents are encouraged to report outages to 311, which operates 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Monday – Friday.

WHO: Lt. Col. Mark Jernigan, Director, City of New Orleans Department of Public Works